Questions remain on Topsail baseball eligibility issue

Saturday

A second investigation requested by the Pender Board of Education is ongoing

HAMPSTEAD – In April, the Topsail High School baseball team got black T-shirts, with “Do Your Job” written on them in gold.

It was a team mantra. A call to be a star at your position. But less than a week after forfeiting 16 wins from this season, the Topsail baseball community is struggling to understand who didn’t do their job after an ineligible player was allowed to remain on the roster.

Pender County Schools confirmed last week that the team violated the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s eligibility regulations. Alex Postma, a senior plagued with debilitating anxiety and who is non-verbal, was deemed ineligible. He was used as a courtesy runner and batted three times with one RBI.

The Pirates were forced to forfeit 16 wins where he was in uniform, which turned their on-field record of 17-6 to 1-22 and took them out of playoff consideration.

NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said the association holds the whole school responsible for eligibility.

“No one person ought to have to bear the burden to check eligibility,” Tucker said. “A lot of people say the blame is on the athletic director. We can go that route. But that’s unfair.”

Tucker said Topsail High School self-reported the violation to the NCHSAA.

“They knew going in that there is a real possibility that we’re going to have to vacate wins,” she said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time it is inadvertent. It is just an honest mistake.”

Postma’s ineligibility came as a shock. Several baseball parents sent anonymous letters to Pender County Superintendent Steven Hill, begging him to intervene because of, according to one parent, the “intolerable failures, incompetency, and the lack of compliance performed by the THS administration and athletic department.”

In the wake of last week’s forfeiture, Pender County Schools is reviewing all athletic procedures. The investigation is still ongoing, and the district will address “the findings of the investigation with appropriate personnel action,” Pender County Schools spokeswoman Miranda Ferguson said in an email.

It is the second investigation on the matter in the past week. The first one concluded with a press release sent from Pender County Schools on Monday night that "determined there was a violation of NCHSAA's regulations" and the violation would mean forfeits and missing the postseason. After listening to comments from parents and players, the Pender County Board of Education said it would conduct an investigation.

Brad George, the Pender County Board Of Education member overseeing Topsail High School's district, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Topsail High School Principal Berry Simmons, baseball coach Aaron Rimer and athletic director Barry West all declined to comment while the investigation is ongoing.

Simmons, however, noted, “Anything that happens at this school is a reflection on me as a leader."

A school’s athletic director has the sole responsibility for checking eligibility, according to the Pender County Athletics manual. Coaches do not have access to a student’s grades, except for those enrolled in their classes.

Rimer submitted a roster of players for approval in February and was told all players were eligible to participate on the 2018 baseball team, according to several sources familiar with the program. Rimer was told again after tryouts and when the final roster was submitted before the first game that all the players – including Postma - were eligible.

Postma struggles with anxiety and depression and is considered a twice-exceptional child, which is an education term for kids who are gifted intellectually but also suffer from a disability. He has only made it through one full school year – eighth grade – in the past seven, according to a letter written by his father. Postma is homebound, but was taking two classes at Topsail High School and two online in the spring semester through APEX, a program for homebound students that’s approved for Pender County Schools.

“We still don’t understand why he wasn’t eligible,” said Michael Postma, Alex’s father. “From our perspective, our kid tried out for ball and made the team and we were told he was eligible to play. Why wasn’t it looked into at the beginning of the season? We were told he was good to go. From our perspective, we just wanted him to play."

Postma’s eligibility issue didn’t arise until the team’s senior night on May 1. Simmons told Postma’s mother, Julie, he was asked at the game why Alex could play if he wasn’t in class, according to a letter written by Michael Postma recounting the events surrounding questions about his son’s eligibility.

Simmons also said there were issues with Postma’s first semester grades. Postma only passed two classes in the fall semester and pushed calculus and Spanish to the following semester, his father said. Instead of getting an incomplete, Postma got a failing grade. Simmons said, according to the letter, Alex received a failing grade because he didn’t drop calculus within the drop period.

“He crashed,” Postma said. “When he got back to the mental state to work, it was too late to catch up with the calculus. AP calculus is not an easy course.”

Being on the team was good for Alex, his father said. It gave him confidence.